Comparison Between Social Classes In The Gilded Age

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The Gilded Age was an age of rapid economic growth. Railroads, factories, and mines were slowly popping up across the country, creating a variety of new opportunities for entrepreneurs and laborers alike. These new inventions and opportunities created “...an unprecedented accumulation of wealth” (GML, 601). But the transition of America from a small farming based nation to a powerful industrial one created a huge rift between social classes. Most people were either filthy rich or dirt poor, with workers being the latter. Many workers worked in the mining industry; risking their lives for “...about $400 a year, not enough to support a family…” (A Biography of America). This little sum of money lead to miners living in poverty and their children

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